The present disclosure relates to a vehicle frame and, more particularly, to a frame subcomponent for supporting a vehicle's load-carrying bed on frame rails the vehicle's frame. In one embodiment, the frame subcomponent is a unibody tower structure disposed on an adjacent frame rail supporting the vehicle's load carrying bed thereabove and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the frame subcomponent could relate to other similar environments and applications.
Frames on pickup trucks and like vehicles often include a pair of spaced frame rails extending along the length of the vehicle. Cross members are used to connect the spaced frame rails and, together with the frame rails, provide a rigid ladder-like frame upon which a cab structure and a load-carrying bed structure can be mounted. Typically, the frame consisting of the frame rails and cross members is subassembled independently of the cab structure and the load-carrying bed structure. Likewise, the cab and load carrying-bed structures are subassembled separately and independently of one another. Once these components are subassembled, the cab structure and the bed structure, which are sometimes together referred to as the vehicle body, are mounted to the frame.
Conventional bed structures are often open-box structures including a rectangular bed floor, sidewalls extending upward from three of four edges of the bed floor and an openable tailgate extending along the remaining edge of the bed floor. When mounted to a ladder-like vehicle frame, the tailgate is oriented at one end of the frame rails opposite the cab structure. The bed floor is typically positioned directly adjacent and mounted to the frame rails. Thus, the height of the frame rails is approximately the same as the height of the bed floor.
Various types of body mounts are usually used for secured the vehicle body to the frame. Often the body mounts include some resilient material for absorbing vibrations and loads that are otherwise transferred from the vehicle frame to the vehicle body. Though these types of body mounts often slightly space the vehicle body from the vehicle frame, the vehicle body can still be characterized as being directly adjacent and directly mounted to the frame rails of the vehicle frame. Thus, body mounts can slightly space a bed floor from the frame rails, but the floor is still closely adjacent and, via the body mounts, directly mounted to the frame rails. Moreover, the height of the frame rails and, particularly, tops of the frames rails is approximately the same as the height of the bed floor.